Mathematical Illiteracy

Paulos does not confine his discussion only to one aspect of numbers and mathematics. His book is replete with examples of statistics, probability and mathematics. He suggests, for example, that we develop a "safety index" for certain activities or events which would provide the populace as a whole with a quantitative way to evaluate their activities (128). While such an idea may seem farfetched, it illustrates an idea which occurs throughout the book: events can be quantified and evaluated by those who are not innumerate.

Paulos suggests, for example, that people who canceled trips to Europe because of the threat of terrorism, but who continue to drive the highways each day to and from work, are innumerate to the point of making bad decisions. The likelihood of being involved in a terrorist incident is much more remote than the likelihood of being involved in a highway accident. However, the terrorists, activities garner headlines; the many traffic accidents do not.

The problem that Paulos seizes upon is that people who are innumerate, or uncomfortable with numbers, are likely to

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t cannot be the black-black card, this seems like a reasonable bet. The reasonable bet assumes that it is one side of the red-black card, in which case you win. More likely, it is one or another side of the red-red card, in which case he wins. Those who are numerate would not take the bet, or they would reverse it to their favor (87). Paulos works hard against the idea that mathematics and numbers are abstract and require an abstract mind to deal with them. He recognizes that mathematics is symbolic, but also recognizes that much great literature, particularly poetry, is also symbolic, sometimes to a fault. It confounds Paulos, as it should most readers, why someone who can understand the intricacies of literature should throw up their hands when confronted with mathematics. The reason, he suggests, is in the way that mathematics is taught. The associative property is expressed as (A + B) + C = A + (B + C). Instead of using initials, Paulos says, bring some real world examples into the equation. Contrary to what children are taught, 1 + 1 does not always equal 2. One cup of milk plus one orange does not equal two of anything recognizable, for example. Make such distinctions clear at an early age, and children will app
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Approximate Word count = 1722
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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